Here are the most eye-catching stories from this week’s/weekend’s boxing news and ring action:
– In weekend ring action:
Saturday night at the Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, rising star Jaron “Boots” Ennis made an emphatic case for himself being the next big thing in the welterweight division with an impressive, explosive tenth-round knockout of tough-as-nails Venezuelan Roiman Villa. The unbeaten 26-year-old Ennis, who was making the first defense of his interim IBF welterweight title, is now the consensus no. 1 contender awaiting the winner of the upcoming Errol Spence-Terence Crawford unification bout.
On the Ennis-Villa undercard, Marquis Taylor scored an upset decision victory over undefeated, heavy-handed Cuban prospect Yoelvis Gomez. Also, Edwin De Los Santos took a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Joseph Adorno.
At the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, highly-regarded lightweight prospect Floyd Schofield scored a one-sided unanimous ten-round decision over Haskell Rhodes in the new main event of what was supposed to be the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Eimantis Stanionis card.
Friday night in Monterrey, Mexico, atop a Golden Boy/DAZN card, 22-year-old rising super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco stopped Manuel Gallegos in four rounds.
– Vergil Ortiz Jr. was forced to withdraw from Saturday’s bout in San Antonio against WBA “regular” welterweight champ Eimantas Stanionis due to health issues. According to reports, the 25-year-old Ortiz collapsed on Wednesday and was rushed to the hospital. Ortiz, who has now pulled out of fights three times over the last sixteen months, is said to be suffering from rhabdomyolysis, a condition where damaged muscle tissue releases proteins and electrolytes into the blood, causing damage to the heart and kidneys that could be fatal under the worst of conditions. In Ortiz’s case, his condition could be worsened by the battle to make the 147 lb. welterweight limit. The Ortiz-Stanionis bout has been put off three times already– twice due to Ortiz’s issues and once when the Lithuanian defending champ needed an emergency apendectomy.
– Heavyweight rivals Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte have come to terms for an August 12 clash at the O2 Arena in London. Joshua, a former three-belt world champion, stopped Whyte in the seventh round of a hotly-contested 2015 battle for the British heavyweight title. Whyte, meanwhile, had beaten Joshua as an amateur, before Joshua went on to capture an Olympic gold medal. Both fighters are coming off victories over Jermaine Franklin and high-profile losses in title bouts before that (Joshua, to Oleksandr Usyk and Whyte, to Tyson Fury).
– It’s been heavily rumored that a Keith Thurman-Yordenis Ugas welterweight clash is close to being made a reality with a target date of mid-to-late August. No venue or location has been named yet.
– Former welterweight champion Jeff Horn held a press conference last week to announce his retirement, about six years after his controversial upset victory over Manny Pacquiao to take the WBO world title and at the same venue where the bout took place.
The 35-year-old Horn finishes his career with a record of 20-3-1 with 13 KOs. His last fight was back in August of 2020, when he was stopped by fellow Australian Tim Tszyu in eight rounds.
– It was announced last week that former middleweight contender Antwun Echols passed away in his home in Davenport, Iowa from complications due to diabetes at the age of 52. Echols, known as “Kid Dynamite” was best known for his pair of hard-fought title challenges against then-IBF middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins.
– Three-time former cruiserweight champ Mairis Briedis will return to the ring against Scotland’s John McCallum, July 21 at the Meadowbrook Sports Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland on the Lee McGregor-Erik Robles. In his last bout, back in July of 2022, Briedis lost his IBF cruiserweight title via unanimous decision to Jai Opetaia.
